Against The Tyrant
by Orange Headphones
Summary: The unthinkable has happened...Eggman has all the Chaos Emeralds. Can Sonic stop his newest plot for world domination? Enter Metal Sonic. Working title
1. Eggman's Triumph

The impossible had finally happened: Eggman had all the Chaos Emeralds. How he did it, nobody quite knew, but that made no real difference to the predicament. With the untapped power that lay within those legendary gems, he could conquer the world with relative ease. No one person alone could attempt to challenge him in this state.

However, one was courageous enough to try and stop Eggman as he was: Sonic the Hedgehog, Eggman's eternal rival. The quick blue hedgehog was the one who had always conquered Eggman whenever it was physically possible, and he hoped to do that once again, figuring that he had a chance to do it.

Confronting Eggman in the central chamber of his base (a large room filled with computers, encapsulated within a thick metal shell with one window high up on the wall), Sonic confidently yelled, "Eggman, you're going down!"

The egg-shaped doctor simply laughed at Sonic, knowing how powerful the emeralds had made him. In his Egg Walker robot, the genius of a man beckoned his blue adversary to challenge him in a fight, knowing full well that if he got Sonic out of the way, the greatest threat to his plans would finally have been taken care of for the first time since encountering the confident hero.

Charging quickly, Sonic jumped and executed a perfect strike of his homing attack right at Eggman himself, attempting the strike from above. Though Eggman took the hit Sonic aimed at him, he simply shook his head and grinned, knowing the attack hadn't done any damage worthy of note.

In retaliation to Sonic's attempt of an attack, Eggman fired a blast from his Vulcan Cannon and locked on to Sonic's position within a few seconds. Knowing he had been targeted, Sonic ran left and right, figuring his superior speed would confuse the sensors attempting to track him. When Eggman hadn't fired a shot at him, Sonic again attempted a homing attack, figuring that he had given up on the sensors. However, midway through his attack, Eggman fired one of his green lock-on missiles.

In an attempt to save his life, Sonic shifted his position slightly in midair and was able to avoid taking direct damage from Eggman's powerful weapon. Instead, Sonic had practically no use of his left arm, the one part of himself that he had not been able to avoid taking damage from the blast.

Seeing Sonic grip his left arm and grit his teeth, still ready to attempt an attack, Eggman snickered and charged after the blue Hedgehog. Again, Eggman aimed for Sonic and fired a lock-on missile, but this time he also fired a stream of homing rockets aimed for Sonic. Seeing Sonic run out of the way of the rockets and lock-on missile, Eggman prepared his most powerful weapon.

Just as Sonic thought he might have another chance in the battle, Eggman unleashed his dreaded plasma canon, covering the general area in a glowing white light of great destructive force. Though he was extremely fast, Sonic could not avoid this strike and collapsed, defeated, in a heap on the floor of Eggman's cold chamber.

Finally having done what he had never done, Eggman celebrated for a moment, praising himself for finally defeating Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the cocky attitude of Dr. Eggman left him with his back to Sonic for a short while. Though he was never one to admit defeat, Sonic, though immensely weak, took this chance to escape from Eggman's base, quickly escaping through a window, eventually collapsing in a somewhat nearby forest.

Turning around, Eggman realized that Sonic was no longer around and cursed to himself, vowing revenge on the hedgehog that had eternally been a thorn in his side. Commanding his forces to search for and capture Sonic, Eggman readied to commence his master plan. He finally believed that he could overcome the threat that Sonic posed to him. He felt that absolutely nothing in the world could stop him at that time.

Eggman definitely was a serious threat to destroy the world at that time. With Sonic momentarily unable to do battle, it almost seemed as if nothing would be able to stop him while he had all of the Chaos Emeralds.

Lying in the forest, injured beyond any time in his life with a few broken ribs, a shattered arm and a seriously damaged leg, Sonic for the first time in his life felt truly helpless. He knew that Eggman hadn't been bluffing about having all seven Chaos Emeralds, like he figured the doctor had been, and that idea made him quiver with fear.

Suddenly, Sonic heard a rustling noise in the leaves of a nearby bush, Sonic's eyes opened wide, wondering what it was that lay in wait for him. He couldn't quite make out the form through the gaps in the leaves, but he nonetheless was worried as to what it could be.


	2. From the Bushes

Emerging from the shrubbery was the ever enigmatic Shadow the Hedgehog. The primarily black hedgehog seemed to have a somewhat condescending attitude towards almost anyone, and this seemed to remain prevalent when he addressed Sonic, saying bluntly, "You never cease to amaze me, blue hedgehog."

Gritting his teeth and relaxing a little bit, Sonic irritably responded, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Somewhat haughtily, Shadow responded, "I can't believe that you tried to attack Eggman. You knew he had all the Chaos Emeralds."

Irritated, Sonic asked, "So what?"

Somewhat ambiguously, Shadow said, "Just stay out of my way."

With that, Shadow walked away from Sonic in another direction than that from which he came. Sonic couldn't quite tell what Shadow meant with his last statement; he figured it meant either that Shadow was either trying to protect him or get rid of him. Nonetheless, Sonic didn't have the time to mull over Shadow's last comment, as he heard the panting breath of another figure.

Irritable from his short, basically nonexistent, conversation with Shadow, Sonic really didn't get scared when he heard this figure approaching. However, when he saw who it was, his eyes opened widely, not believing that Amy had come all this way.

As she entered the clearing Sonic was trying to recover in, she stopped before seeing Sonic and put her hands on her knees, tired from running. Upon seeing Sonic in such a painful state, her eyes shot open with shock. Only in her worst nightmares was Sonic ever in this condition.

In great disbelief, Amy barely was able to mutter, "Sonic, is that you?"

Trying to pretend that everything was as it should be, Sonic told her, "Yeah, Amy, it's me."

Falling to her knees, Amy softly put her hands on Sonic, trying to somehow heal his wounds if it were at all possible. Almost absently, she said, "Sonic, why did you leave?"

Sonic, in a very unsure attempt to find an answer, told her, "I had to."

Very quickly, Sonic's mind came back to just before he left, out to try and stop Eggman this last time.

Running in the general direction he believed that Eggman's base would be, Sonic saw someone ahead in the road. As he got closer, he saw that the figure in front of him was Amy Rose. From a mixture of surprise and necessity, Sonic stopped to see what she wanted to say.

"Amy…" The word fell from Sonic's mouth, surprised yet expectedly.

"Sonic," she said, with a hint of heartfelt pleading, "where are you going?"

"Amy," he said resolvedly, "I've got to go. Eggman must be stopped."

"But Sonic, don't you know that he's got all the Chaos Emeralds?" she asked with a great sense of worry.

"That's a chance I've got to take. There's no telling what he could do if he harnesses the power of all seven." Also, he thought, 'Who knows, maybe he doesn't actually have the Chaos Emeralds?'

Amy couldn't say another word. She was too dumbstruck to bring herself to say anything.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to do this, Amy," Sonic said as he quickly took off running towards Eggman's base.

Unknown to Sonic, after a few moments, Amy recollected herself and ran off after him, hoping that she could catch him before something bad happened to him.

When Sonic's mind returned to his present situation, all he could say to Amy was, "I'm sorry, Amy."

Amy sighed, saying, "Sonic, I don't care right now about whether or not you did something wrong; right now, all that matters is getting you back to health. We've got to stop Eggman, but we need you before we can do anything major."

Greatly amazed by those words, Sonic simply said to Amy, "Thank you."

Acting very duty-bound, Amy told him, "Don't worry Sonic. Come on; let's get you out of here."

Sonic only nodded in response.

Amy, showing greater strength than it appeared she had, helped Sonic to his feet and was able to lug him back home, trying to create some safety for the injured blue hedgehog.

Elsewhere, Eggman rose to his feet and entered an old, dusty room. Once inside, he looked to and dusted off an old, persistent foe of Sonic's, Metal Sonic, ready to reanimate him once again and see what he could do. Activating the blood-red eyes, Eggman smiled maliciously.


	3. Metal Sonic's New Power

As energy flowed through the circuitry of the blue robotic hedgehog, it clenched its claw-like fingers and stretched itself out after months of remaining deactivated for repairs. Not much seemed to have changed to Metal Sonic's appearance, but, even unknown to the robot himself, it had a secret power endowed within it; if this power were to be activated, Metal Sonic would suddenly have the power to destroy anything in his path. The only downside to that upgrade was that Metal Sonic could not control the destructive nature.

When the robotic copy came to its full senses, Eggman told it two simple words. The doctor told him, "Destroy Sonic."

Knowing his major purpose since his creation had been to take down the hedgehog he was modeled after, Metal Sonic nodded his head and fled from the base he had come from, seemingly floating a few inches above the ground.

Scouring the forest, Metal Sonic sensed for movement. As he scoured the trees and bushes in the forest surrounding Eggman's base, Metal Sonic found nothing, but continued to move along.

A few moments after Metal Sonic had finished scouring the forest, he detected some movement from behind him. Turning, the robot was blown away by the power of a gloved fist. With the force of the blow, Metal Sonic was knocked backwards into one of the trees he had just passed.

When he had recovered his senses, Metal Sonic realized that the one who had delivered the powerful punch was Sonic's rival and somewhat reluctant ally, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles' eyes narrowed in fury; truly, he was an intimidating sight when he was angry. Despite being no taller than any other of Sonic's allies, Knuckles' balled fists and fearsome eyes displayed the strength that he possessed.

Knuckles, once he realized that Metal Sonic knew who he was, called out challengingly, "Do you want to fight, Metal?"

Though his mission had nothing to do with Knuckles, Metal Sonic knew that avoiding any confrontation with Knuckles would result in nothing but more mindless encounters. Quickly, Metal Sonic got in a fighting stance and readied to fight with the red echidna.

Knuckles smirked with a very smug look on his face, confident that he would easily win this battle. Though Metal Sonic was a powerful foe, throughout the past few years he had developed somewhat of a reputation as a laughingstock; every time Metal Sonic had attempted to destroy Sonic or one of his companions, he failed miserably.

Attempting to utilize his speed quickly, Metal Sonic extended his two arms with his claws extended forward. Quickly, Metal Sonic sped towards Knuckles, but was met with a simple fist to the crown of the head. Yet again, Metal Sonic was stopped in his tracks.

Knuckles, considering he had challenged Metal Sonic to the fight, had come very prepared. After stopping Metal Sonic's first attack, Knuckles leapt into the air and began to glide upon it, stopping when he was above his opponent. Diving quickly, the powerful echidna used the force of gravity coupled with the force of his spiky fists to deliver some significant damage to the metal creation.

The robotic hedgehog had to take a moment to recover his wits before he attempted to return to the battle. Finally, he used his powerful engine and sped behind Knuckles, pummeling the red echidna with his feet and his metallic claws.

Needless to say, Knuckles sustained heavy damage from that attack. In an attempt to cancel the bevy of blows aimed at him, Knuckles threw his left fist backwards, to where he assumed Metal Sonic would be, and managed to connect with the face of the metal creation.

Taking full advantage of the situation, he unleashed a bevy of his own upon the metal countenance. With each powerful punch, Knuckles brought Metal Sonic closer and closer to a dangerously critical condition. As the damage kept mounting, the battle seemed to look more and more like it was immensely one-sided.

However, once Metal Sonic had reached a critical amount of damage, the new internal mechanism within him activated in the interest of self-preservation. Suddenly, Metal Sonic's red eyes, which were at one point fading, returned to their powerful red glow and somehow showed a new and more powerful intensity.

Figuring it was not too much of an advantage for Metal Sonic, Knuckles again attempted to punch his foe in this battle. However, the punch was suddenly stopped by a black prism that suddenly appeared to shield Sonic's copy. Bearing an expression of shock, Knuckles reluctantly withdrew his fist and attempted another punch, meeting with the same result.

The metallic creature simply scoffed, powerfully grabbing Knuckles by the throat and throwing him down into the ground. Until he sensed no more movement from the confident echidna, Metal Sonic continued to thrash his opponent. Believing him to be dead, the robot returned to his feet.

Since that new internal mechanism had been activated, the robotic creature began his rampage upon the landscape. Within a few short minutes, the vast forest that surrounded Eggman's base was reduced to a few sparse trees and bushes. At that time, the effects of the mechanism wore out and the robot returned to the base, looking for repairs after the battle with Knuckles.

From behind one of the bushes, Amy stood up with Sonic still hanging upon her shoulder. She looked dumbfounded by that new power of Metal Sonic, finding it hard to believe that the machine could do that much damage with so much energy after taking such a beating. Sonic, on the other hand showed no concern, mumbling to himself about how he could defeat the thing if he were back in form.

Slowly, the two hedgehogs moved onwards. When they caught sight of Knuckles, Amy shrieked, thinking the worst was upon them. However, upon hearing the echidna release a painful groan, she knew that he was still alive, but that he was more or less in the same shape that Sonic was. Showing some great strength, Amy also took Knuckles with her, saying to herself, "I hope we can do it."


	4. Recovery

Considering that he was the most sensible of the group of four, Tails had not gone out and engaged in any fights. Instead, he kept inside what would serve as a makeshift base, a crudely designed underground chamber located a few miles away from Eggman's base of opperations.

When he saw Sonic and Knuckles in such bad shape, Tails nearly broke down in tears. Sonic and Knuckles were arguably the two biggest examples of how to act that Tails had known in his short lifetime. While Sonic may have been impulsive, Tails saw just how ardently he fought for justice and how he made sure that he'd sacrifice himself for his friends. Though he didn't know Knuckles as well, he knew that he was one of the most devoted figures the young fox knew.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing two of his closest friends in such horrible shape, Tails somewhat quietly asked Amy, "Amy, what happened to them?"

She momentarily shook her head; not even she knew. Giving her best attempt to tell him, she said, "I don't quite know what happened to Sonic, but I know he got this hurt trying to take down Eggman. Knuckles, on the other hand, just happened to be around the area that I was taking Sonic through at the time, and Metal Sonic came back and defeated him in front of my eyes."

Confused, Tails asked, "But Amy, you and I both know that Knuckles is an excellent fighter; he'd never lose to Metal Sonic in a fair fight."

Amy closed her eyes and lowered her head before speaking softly, "I never said it was a fair fight. Right before Metal Sonic was about to go down, suddenly something happened. It was as if he regained his former energy and had attained a strength tenfold compared to what he had before. We were lucky that in this powerful strength, Metal didn't try to kill us or Knuckles."

"Well," the young fox said, trying to gather his thoughts, "At least you've brought them here. We'll definitely do the best we can for the two of them, but healing them alone won't be enough. We've got to develop some information on how to stop Eggman's new Empire. If we don't do something to get at the heart of some of his implements, he's just going to keep mowing us down."

Amy found herself a bit taken aback with Tails' somewhat pessimistic view. She asked, "What happened to that 'never say die' attitude that Sonic's been trying to teach us for so long? I know it'll be tough to try and beat Eggman, especially since he's got all seven Chaos Emeralds, but we did it before. Remember when he had the power of Chaos on his side. Things seemed hopeless until Sonic ended up saving the day. Eggman may have the power, but I don't think he knows how to harness them properly."

Tails nodded somewhat. "But Amy," he sincerely asked, "how are we going to do it?"

She simply said, "I don't know how we're going to do it, but I do know that before we can make any headway on trying to combat Eggman, we'll need to get these two over there back to health. We may have our own strengths, but Eggman's too strong for us to try to take down on our own. It may mean Eggman establishing his Eggman Empire for the first time since the Death Egg first came into existence, but Sonic was able to take down Eggman back then."

Though he knew it would compromise their immediate plans, Tails knew that what Amy was saying was deeply rooted in fact. After all, thanks to Sonic, they had always been able to rise up to what they thought was their potential (and perhaps surpass it) when things always seemed to be the most difficult.

Over the next two months, Tails and Amy did their very best to nurse Sonic and Knuckles back to health with the supplies that Tails had conveniently brought into the underground base. Slowly but surely, the two injured heroes had returned to their former physical condition; they were just a little rusty.

All during that time, Eggman had been searching for all four that were hidden in the underground base. Sending Metal Sonic out on scouting missions quickly became too little for him, as Eggman decided to expand his empire from the elaborate central base he found himself occupied in.

Using the nearly unlimited supply of robots at his disposal, Eggman ventured out of his base and slowly began sending the robots to claim the surrounding territory as that of the Eggman Empire. Within days, Eggman had made it to the central city near his base. Without one of the Sonic Team to try to rescue them, the civilians shortly succumbed to the power of Eggman's craftily designed robotic minions.

When Knuckles, leading the way, finally exited through the ceiling of the underground base, all that he could see in every direction was coated in metal. Eggman had definitely done his dirty work successfully. As the others emerged, they saw that they had a good deal of work on their hands. Not only would they have to deal with Eggman's minions and have to try to reduce his empire back to his base, but they would also have to find a way to overcome the new powers of Metal Sonic and Eggman.


	5. Resistance

Figuring the best option would be to try and avoid Dr. Eggman, the group of four intrepid heroes turned away from where they knew the Dr's base was. In the near distance, they saw that there was a small city, and they knew that there may be something located there.

Amy quickly asked Tails, "Hey, Tails, do you think that there might be something that we can use in that city to try and better our chances?"

Tails responded, "Well, I don't know if we'll find anything, but we might have something waiting there."

Somewhat eager, Sonic jutted in, "Well then, let's get going."

Knuckles somewhat sighed, but then realized that Sonic was just speaking from his somewhat hopeful and energetic mindset. After all, Sonic's leadership, whether or not it was always conventional, had led his small group of friends through any hardship that they had faced. Right was always the most important, not the speed that he wanted to do everything with.

It was simply amazing how complete the recovery for Sonic and Knuckles was, because the two of them had returned to full speed in such a short time; they had gone from the verge of death to the fullest of life, and it made Amy almost cry in joy.

When they entered the city, the four looked up in disgust; the city was nothing more than a glorified shrine to Eggman. Everywhere they looked, all they could see was a series of statues and icons all bearing the image of the doctor they all had sworn to fight since the early days that Sonic stood up to oppose his attempted tyranny.

However, the four didn't have much time to really look and see what was going on, because quickly a bevy of robots of older design noticed that there were four intruders in this newly constructed city. The first group that approached them was a massive group of fifty or so Buzz Bombers ready to try and strike down the heroes standing as the only resistance to the Eggman Empire.

As they had become such easy enemies to defeat, Sonic leapt into the air and executed homing attack after homing attack upon the buggy robots, subsequently destroying them in a matter of a few seconds short of a minute.

Growing somewhat confident again, Sonic simply said, "Is that all that old Eggman's got left up his sleeve?" as he commented about destroying the robots. Verily, the robots were complete pushovers, and it was for good reason that Eggman had not used them regularly in years past. Unfortunately, Sonic wasn't looking behind him, as another swarm of Buzz Bombers was waiting to try and take him down.

Leaping in to action from reflex more than anything, Knuckles used his fists to knock the weak robots down to the ground where they met their destruction. Though Knuckles' defeat of a Buzz Bomber swarm took slightly longer, Sonic threw his hand up, waiting for a high-five.

Starting to come out of his shell, Knuckles slapped Sonic's gloved hand, even himself admitting that these robots posed little threat, no matter how big of a swarm there were of them.

Suddenly, Tails said something that surprised everyone assembled. "Guys, you won't believe this! My radar says that there's a Chaos Emerald located in this city. If we can get it, then we might be able to weaken Eggman's control."

The others nodded. Amy added in, "And if we can get all seven of them, you can stop Metal Sonic no matter whether or not he gets that power boost, right Sonic?"

Flashing his old smile as he rubbed his nose, Sonic responded, "You bet I can, Ames. But we're going to need everyone here to try and win this fight; it's not going to be easy."

Growing somewhat impatient, Knuckles had already rushed off, looking for that Chaos Emerald. Following his lead, the other three split up and rushed off throughout the city, hoping that they could find that Emerald and start to weaken Eggman's control over the world. Knuckles proceeded cautiously, examining everything in his path. Tails scoured his area from above. Amy searched the best way she could, destroying anything she deemed suspicious with her trusty Piko-Piko hammer. Sonic, much in his old style combed the city at a high speed, knowing what would not hold an Emerald, therefore looking for what that was not.

After searching a while, all four met again at a tall tower in the corner of the city: they had to be there. Amy knocked the door in with a powerful swing from her hammer, and they all proceeded inside. Much to their surprise, considering the weakness of other robots within the city, they saw that there was but one central room that stretched as high as the tower, containing one giant robot.

At first glance, the robot was intimidating based on its size, but that alone was not all that it had to offer. Upon a second look, this robot was loaded with many weapons proportional to its size. Even though it was large and powerful, none of the four gathered thought that they couldn't defeat it.

After the robot activated, the four of them saw that upon its head was the red Chaos Emerald. Seeing this, the four looked to face the buggy robot. In appearance, it was nothing more than an enormous Motobug, the first enemy that Sonic had ever faced in that first crusade to stop Eggman.

Tails attempted to warn the others that this robot might not be as easy to defeat as it had previously seemed, considering its size and the fact that it was powered by a Chaos Emerald. However, before he could warn Sonic, the blue hedgehog was striking at the robot's head.

Without much success, Sonic returned to the rest of the group, saying, "Man, that thing's not as easy for me to defeat as I thought it'd be." After receiving a number of blank stares, Sonic said, "Hey, at least I tried to defeat it."

Looking to the robot, Tails saw that it was moving toward them and quickly yelled, "Take cover. It's coming this way!"

Luckily, everyone was able to manage to throw themselves out of the way of the large ladybug of a robot. Knuckles, quite annoyed by this time rose to his feet first and then punched at the Motobug with all of his force, but he found that he couldn't even dent the robot. Furious with himself, Knuckles continued to punch at the creature until he was thrown away by a charge.

As if from out of nowhere, Amy whispered something to Tails and he nodded his head, lifting Amy up into the air. Once they had reached an altitude above the Motobug, Tails dropped Amy on top of the robot, and she smashed around the Chaos Emerald with her hammer, eventually destorying the bridge between the emerald and the Motobug.

As a result of loosing the Chaos Emerald and taking such sustained damage, the robot exploded, the shards scattering behind a confident Amy who leapt back to the group holding the Chaos Emerald in her right hand and the Piko-Piko hammer in her left hand. Spinning for a moment, she winked at Sonic and said, "That's how you do it, Sonic."

The group could hardly contain it's excitement. Since they had one of the Chaos Emeralds, they felt that the other six could easily enough be attained if they had the right means.

Hurriedly, Knuckles asked Tails, "Where does your indicator say that the next Emerald is?"

Tails pointed to the east, near the desert. "It's somewhere over there, but it's really a long ways away."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving after that next emerald. Eggman's not going to defeat himself, you know," Sonic added in typical fashion as he set out running.


	6. The Second Emerald

Luckily, all four of them were relatively fast, so they managed to find their way to the desert in the matter of less than an hour

Luckily, all four of them were relatively fast, so they managed to find their way to the desert in the matter of less than an hour. After a few minutes of running through the desert, the group stopped to figure out where they were headed.

"Hey Tails," Amy started, "Where does your indicator say the next emerald is?"

Tails paused a moment, taking out his indicator to check their progress. "Good call, Amy. We've been going in a slightly different direction than we need to." Pointing to his right, Tails said, "It should be just over that dune."

Slightly impatiently, Knuckles piped up, "Then let's get going and stop wasting our time."

All four nodded and moved on, but were surprised when they reached the other side of the hill. It seemed that Eggman had again spread his robotic influence to another area, as there was another robotic city over the desert dune. However, this one looked more complicated than the first one, as if Eggman had put more work and better robots into it.

"Well, Eggy's put some decent work into this one," Sonic quickly spoke up. "It might actually be a challenge to take down."

Always eager for a fight, Knuckles ran ahead first, trying to get there before Sonic, but to no avail. Amy and Tails followed somewhat later, a bit hesitant to enter the vast expanse that was another of Eggman's bases.

The city they stepped into had a slightly nostalgic feel to it, as if they had stepped back onto the Death Egg the first time that Eggman had constructed it. When the massive base was first created, it dwarfed anything that had come into contact with anyone around. Recently, Eggman's more elaborate bases either dwarfed it in size or practically.

Inside the metallic sphere, Sonic and Knuckles quickly encountered a row of Coconuts robots, all trying to throw harmful projectiles at them. They leapt into midair and took care of them easily, Knuckles using his fists and Sonic using his homing attack.

They continued to speed along the main path provided for them, but they were again surprised when a row of Grounders popped up from the ground. They managed to actually cause some damage to the two speeding heroes, but that only came as a benefit of jumping out of the ground. When Sonic and Knuckles again came to their feet, they took care of the pesky robots in the same fashion that they defeated the Coconuts machines.

Quickly, they continued to speed along, hoping to find the Chaos Emerald as quickly as possible and then get out of the city. However, they continued to have little luck, especially as they reached the end of the main path with nothing to show but a dead end. Thus, in being forced to backtrack, the two tried to search more thoroughly.

Tails and Amy, on the other hand, found themselves looking around the little city more cautiously. Before Sonic and Knuckles would have reached the Coconuts robots, Tails spied a shortcut through a back way, and the two weaker and slower heroes took full advantage of exploring the city.

"Tails, do you know how much further we have to go before we reach the Chaos Emerald?" Amy asked in a slightly impatient tone.

"Well," the fox began, "I don't exactly know where it is. I know that we're on the right track, but the radar says that it's on the other side of that building," (which he pointed at) "and if we can get through it, the emerald should be ours for the picking."

Amy smiled, "All right Tails! Let's get going."

The fox simply nodded, and they both set out for the building. When they reached its edge, Tails said, "Hold on a second, Amy. I'm going to see if I can make it over the building."

Always willing to lend a hand, Amy grabbed Tails. "Let me give you a boost," she said as she tossed the light fox into the air, hoping to give him the momentum he might need.

"Thanks, Amy," he returned while on his way up. However, Tails found that he could not scale the height of the massive building, not only because of its height, but also because of a number of defense lasers that began to fire at him when he rose up. Before he could reach the roof, Tails had fallen back to the ground in exhaustion.

"Sorry you couldn't make it up there, Tails," Amy told him as he again returned to the metallic ground of Eggman's city.

"Don't worry about it, Amy. It's better that we learn some of Eggman's tricks before they can come and bite us later on. From now on, I'll be more careful when flying."

Since the two couldn't get over the building, they decided that they would try to get through it. However, that was much harder than was expected, because when they entered into the doorway of the building, an array of hidden traps were laid out for them, begging for them to fall for them.

However, with relative ease, Tails and Amy were able to avoid the various spikes, false floors, and weak robots scattered throughout the first floor of the building. As they passed through the exit, they came face to face with a copy of Metal Sonic's very first incarnation, Silver Sonic.

Amy covered her mouth when she saw the dreaded robot for the first time, because it looked as if something terrible had happened to Sonic, as if he were mangled in a thick robotic shell. The robot looked horrifying to the eye, but weak to the experienced fighter.

Throwing his right hand out in front of her, Tails brushed Amy aside, saying, "I've got this one. Sonic had to fight him early on, so I can beat him myself."

Remembering for a moment that he was not on the Death Egg the first time, Tails studied his opponent for a moment. Silver Sonic was surprisingly slow for a robot of Sonic, and Tails intended to take full advantage of such a benefit.

Though he was once considered a near-final boss, Silver Sonic was defeated with relative ease, as Tails easily moved around the robot, easily avoiding attacks and swiftly taking his chance to strike, just like his early years fighting with Sonic.

When Tails had finally defeated the opponent, it burst into pieces, and two interesting things were left in its stead. Not only was the yellow Chaos Emerald there, but the other surprising item was a small disc, able to fit perfectly into a supercomputer.

After Tails had returned to Amy with the two important items, she verbosely congratulated him for his effort against the first metallic implementation of Sonic. However, when she noticed the disc, she asked, "Hey, Tails, what's that you've got?"

He paused a moment to try and consider it. "I can't say that I know exactly what this, Amy. I guess it might have something to do with… Hey Sonic!"

Before Tails had been able to conclude his thought, Sonic and Knuckles came bursting down the hidden path, running into Tails and Amy. Sonic flashed a smile and noticed Tails' emerald. "Nice job, little buddy," he said, "You found it before either Knuckles or I could run across it."

Knuckles nodded in approval from the back of the group, not choosing to be very vocal. He saw that two emeralds were gathered, but that five still remained out in Eggman's empire, and that thought still made him nervous.

Not wanting to waste any more time himself, Sonic grabbed the three other members of his group, though taking a slightly softer grip on Amy, and started running for the next location that an Emerald was to be found at.


	7. Trouble

"Confound it, where's that damn hedgehog?" Eggman yelled, pounding the controls in front of him. After he didn't get a response, the doctor pushed a button in front of him, calling Metal Sonic into the room. He hoped that the metallic copy of that blue hedgehog would still be able to help.

Quickly, the metallic version of Sonic entered the control room Eggman sat in. It bowed in a servile fashion, waiting for its orders, because it knew that Eggman was the boss, and whatever he said was final.

"Metal!" Eggman shrieked, "Do you know where that hedgehog is?"

The copy merely shook its head in its own disappointment. So far, it had run across no signs of Sonic the Hedgehog, nor had he detected the energy signatures of any of the others from his group. It had completely mystified the powerful robot.

Somehow, Eggman held himself back enough to avoid throwing something. He grumbled, "Let's check the monitors; maybe that'll show us something." Looking about the various surveillance cameras scattered about the 'Eggman Empire,' the doctor and his chief robot looked to try and find some sign of Sonic.

To their surprise, they saw that the emeralds stashed in the city and the desert had been taken. Eggman exclaimed, "They got two of the Emeralds! My, my… I wonder where they'll go next." However, the surprise that initially was present on the doctor's face was again replaced with a calm demeanor. "As I thought," he mused, "it's all going according to plan."

The robot looked at his master a bit inquisitively, not exactly sure of what this great master plan would amount to. He simply saw that the great Eggman Empire looked as if it were in jeopardy before it really had the chance to achieve its full potential. "What does that mean, sir?"

Dismissing all doubts as worthless, Eggman said to his robot, "Don't worry about that yet. Even if they get these seven emeralds, there is no way that they really can win against my superior might." His confidence was so overwhelming, it almost made Metal Sonic forget his doubts, but the robot was wise enough to see that there was a chink in Eggman's armor.

"So," the submissive robot asked, "what is it that you wish me to do about the emeralds and Sonic?"

Eggman paused for a moment, stroking the edges of his mustache, thinking about what he wanted done. After another moment, he dictated, "You know where the five other emeralds are housed. Go, and make sure that those four do not gather all seven. They cannot and will not manage to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds."

"As you wish, my lord," Metal responded, quickly exiting the room and Eggman's magnificent base. That stronghold had doubled in size during the time that the empire had sprung up, and Metal Sonic had to marvel at its size for a little while before he sped off to one of the Chaos Emerald locations.

Alone in his room, Eggman smirked and chuckled darkly. From his back pocket, he grabbed a Chaos Emerald and slowly flipped it in the air. "There's no way that they'll get the seven Chaos Emeralds; there's just no way." Catching the gem, the crazed doctor returned to his chair and continued to chuckle darkly.

All the while, Shadow had been listening in a dark corner, hidden from view. Silently, he exited Eggman's base without being recognized, smirking to himself. He had found out what he wanted to, and he left quickly.

Sonic and company continued running around Eggman's gigantic empire. Amid the sea of metal and cities, they found an area that had a lot of grass. Tails told them to stop and take a detour into it; the next emerald would be in there.

Knuckles stopped for a moment. He said, in slight disbelief, "This looks just like the Marble Garden on Angel Island."

Sonic answered, "Yeah, you're right. That was one of the more dangerous places on the island." Then, shifting his attention, he asked, "Tails, are you sure the emerald's through here?"

Tails nodded. "I'm absolutely sure of it, Sonic. The radar says that it's somewhere in here, and it hasn't been wrong yet."

While the three guys were planning a strategy for getting through the area, Amy noticed something disheartening. "Hey, guys," she started, a little nervously, "Look behind you."

Sonic looked at her and asked, "What is it?"

Amy pointed and said, "That's Metal Sonic coming for us."

Tails was quick to point out, "You're right, Amy. We've got to hide then."

Knuckles tried to offer some resistance. He attempted to get in Metal Sonic's path and said, "Let me fight him. Last time he just got lucky."

Amy pulled him aside and said "No! You're not fighting him. He's much stronger than you think he is. Besides, we need you. If you lose, Metal Sonic will either kill you or take you prisoner. We can't afford either of those, so get over here."

Knuckles then conceded and tried to find a hiding spot. Since he knew the area this section was based on the best, he led the charge to find a hiding spot. "Come on, you guys, I know a good spot to hide."

He then led them down a quick slope. It was a small miracle that none of the four tripped and caused major problems. They jumped onto a platform after that slope and quickly onto the next one. There was a stone pillar, but Knuckles punched through it and ushered the others into the cavern behind it.

Sonic smiled and said "Old Metalhead will never find us in here."

Knuckles quickly bopped him on the head and said, "Be quiet, or he'll hear us."

Everybody tried to remain as low to the ground as possible. They could hear their hearts beating, as Metal Sonic started to approach. His engine hummed loudly, and he continued to look for the four. However, he did not take the time to carefully examine the area, since Sonic could have easily sped ahead and grabbed the emerald if he was too careful.

Luckily, Metal Sonic didn't even notice the broken stone pillar, and he continued to move on his way. The four waited until the sound of his engine faded away. Then, they breathed a sigh of relief. Metal Sonic, it turns out, had gone to investigate the next area Chaos Emeralds were at.

When they all decided to return to the open, Knuckles again led the group, saying, "I know this place, and I bet we can find that Chaos Emerald before too long. This area ought to be relatively free of robots, since the layout of the area is dangerous enough."

The others nodded, and let Knuckles lead the way. He guided them up and down dangerous slopes, past pits of spikes and mud, and through maces bent on crushing anything. With the help of Knuckles' expertise, the area didn't seem all that dangerous. There was an occasional robot in the area, but they weren't difficult for any of the four to defeat.

Before too long, they found themselves at the end of a large tunnel. And, sitting, unprotected, was the light blue emerald. Tails confirmed that it was the emerald they were looking for, so Sonic ran ahead and grabbed it.

However, that turned out to be a poor strategy, since the tunnel around them started to collapse. Sonic quickly doubled back, grabbing Knuckles and Amy, one with each hand, and sped out of there. He trusted Tails to make it out just fine, which he did.

Once they were out of that dangerous area, Sonic breathed a sigh of relief and said "Just made it."

Knuckles got on Sonic's case, saying, "We could have been killed back there. Do you know the kind of danger you put us in?"

Sonic, a bit frustrated, said "Look, I'm sorry. But, at least we have another Chaos Emerald."

Tails, trying to diffuse the situation said, "Look, guys, we made it out alive. I'm sure that Sonic didn't know that the tunnel would collapse, and we should have listened to Knuckles. Still, Eggman's still got four Chaos Emeralds, and we've got to stop him."

Sonic and Knuckles, in their own time, both said, "You're right, Tails." They then apologized and started to look out for the next emerald location. All the while, they never stopped being cautious, looking around for Metal Sonic.


	8. Pursuit

Metal Sonic examined a Chaos Emerald on an island base. The white emerald was safely in its place. That was a success, at least. He could stay and guard that one; that would surely stop the pesky rebels from getting all seven Chaos Emeralds. He had decided that it would be the best course of action.

Dr. Eggman contacted Metal Sonic via a signal in the robot's head. Calmly, he said "I don't know what you're doing, but those fools captured the Chaos Emerald in the Marble Garden. My cameras detect that they're headed for the two near Station Square. Under no circumstances are you allowed to let them capture them."

He responded, "As you wish, sir."

With that, he headed out to capture his prey.

Meanwhile, our four heroes were again approaching familiar territory. They noticed two areas in front of them. One looked just like the Mystic Ruins and another looked just like Station Square.

Tails looked at his radar and then said, "That's strange."

Sonic looked over and asked, "What's strange, little buddy?"

"Well," Tails said, "The radar's picking up two Chaos Emerald frequencies close by. One's that way," he said pointing towards Station Square.

"Tails, I hate to interrupt you, but we've got problems," Amy said.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"Metal Sonic's on our tail again, and he's close."

Sonic muttered something under his breath quickly. Then, he turned to Tails and said, "Where was that other emerald supposed to be?"

"It's over in the Mystic Ruins."

Sonic started to set up a plan. He said, "Great. I'll take Amy and we'll go over there. You and Knuckles go for the one in Station Square. We'll meet up again around here after we've got both of them."

"But Sonic," Tails, started, "You don't have a radar. How will you find your Chaos Emerald?"

"Tails, we've got bigger problems right now. But you can find us using your radar. Just be careful." Then, he turned to Amy, grabbed her hand and said, "Let's get going, Amy."

Metal Sonic noticed that the rebels were splitting into two groups. For a moment, he hesitated in deciding which pair to go after. Then, he chose to pursue Sonic and Amy. After all, Sonic was his first target.

Sonic and Amy rushed through the Mystic Ruins, looking for a hiding spot. Sonic was practically carrying Amy, as he searched for any good hole. He kept looking and found nothing in the main area. So, he figured that he might be able to lose Metal Sonic in the jungle. He sprinted up past the waterfall and jumped into the trees.

Sonic could still sense Metal Sonic right on his tail, and so he kept on running. He landed on top of a tree and cursed at himself under his breath. He quickly spotted Eggman's old base at the edge of the jungle. So, without a moment's hesitation, he made his way towards it.

Amy wanted to say something to Sonic, but she knew better than to do so in this situation. Sonic was clearly faster than she was, even when he was dragging her along. If they could find their way past Metal Sonic for a moment, then she could be helpful. Until then, it was useless to try and talk sense into Sonic.

Sonic could feel Metal Sonic in striking range. He was already as fast as Sonic to begin with, but Sonic was a bit slower because of Amy. Sonic tried to push his body a little further, a little faster. Metal Sonic tried to swipe at Amy.

Reflexively, Amy swung her hammer at Metal Sonic's outstretched arm, causing him to flinch for a moment. That moment was all that Sonic needed to get them into Eggman's old base. With one last sprint, they entered the transport elevator, escaping Metal Sonic for a moment.

Once inside it, Sonic set Amy down. They could hold Metal Sonic outside of the stronghold for a few moments if they stayed in the elevator. That was just enough time to formulate a plan.

Amy took this chance to turn to Sonic. "You know," she started, "We can't keep running from him."

Sonic turned to Amy, momentarily out of breath, and asked, "Do you have any plans?"

Amy paused for a moment before she got an idea. "The Final Egg is right around here. I bet that we can find a hiding spot in there."

Sonic said, "Well, I can't think of anything better. Do you know a hiding spot?"

Amy hesitated for a second, but then answered. "I do, but it's going to be a bit of a run to get there. Can you keep up your pace for a few minutes with me?"

Sonic took a deep breath and said, "I can, but I'm going to be completely out of it afterwards."

"Well then, let's do this," Amy said with a smirk.

Sonic didn't say anything in response. Instead, he gracefully picked up Amy and rushed around the top floor of this base. He easily avoided the canisters filled with other robots. His goal was a ramp on the other side of the level. With little difficulty, he made it up the ramp, just as Metal Sonic burst into the base.

As soon as they delved deeper into Eggman's old base, Amy thought that she should give Sonic some direction. "It's a straight go until you get to the elevator."

Sonic nodded, readying himself. This would be a bit of a struggle.

The area in front of them was riddled with lasers and spinning spiked balls. Sonic recognized that they'd be no problem normally. He would use his homing attack to destroy the robots generating them, if he were by himself. He wasn't. So, he simply jumped over the lasers, which were really low off the ground. He easily ran around the spinning balls, not even in his path.

The area continued to provide Sonic with minimal obstacles as he rushed forward, Amy in tow. As he turned a corner, Metal Sonic entered the area. The robot could practically sense Sonic's presence in the area, hearing his footsteps on the cold metal. He followed in pursuit.

There were no special obstacles around the corner for Sonic. There were more lasers, but he jumped in between them, trying to avoid two robots. He blazed past them and jumped in between even more lasers. Dr. Eggman really liked lasers in his bases; they were an effective means of deterring his enemies. He took a quick left and entered a long hallway.

Amy encouraged him again, saying "The elevator's right around the corner here."

As Sonic and Amy rounded the corner, Sonic pressed the call button for the elevator. He knew that Metal Sonic was right behind them. Amy suggested that they hide behind one of the rows of boxes. They could hear when the elevator pulled in and it could buy them a second or two if Metal Sonic got into the room before their exit. Sonic quickly assented, and they hid behind the boxes to the right of the elevator.

In moments, the elevator pulled in. Sonic and Amy jumped into it and pushed the button for the next floor, going up. As soon as the door closed, Metal Sonic appeared and attempted to claw at the door. Sonic and Amy backed away from the attacks as the elevator moved.

For a second, Sonic set Amy down. It was clear that carrying Amy and attempting to go full speed was taking its toll on him. He could only keep this up for a few more minutes. It was a testament to his natural ability that they were still alive.

Attempting to console him, Amy said, "Sonic, there's only a little bit further to go."

He looked at her and said, "I know. We'll get there." He smirked, never having lost faith in Amy's ability.

Seconds later, the elevator arrived at its floor, and Sonic took a deep breath. He opened his arms, ready to cradle Amy. He looked over to her and asked, "Are you ready?"

She nodded and said, "You bet I am." With that, she hopped into Sonic's arms.

The grate of a door opened, and Sonic rushed out of it. He had to make every second count, because Metal Sonic was hot on their tails. Sonic saw one major room in front of him, and he sped through it, not seeing any dangerous obstacles. From there, Sonic took a quick left turn into a simple metallic hallway. There was a room at the end of it, and it had five doors.

As soon as they entered the hub, Amy started giving Sonic directions. "Put me down," she said.

Incredulous, Sonic asked, "What?"

Amy started planning their course. "Put me down," she said. "There are five doors in this room, and only one of them is the correct one through here. We're going to open that one, but we won't go through it. Instead, we're going to hide behind one of the dead doors."

Sonic understood her plan and asked, "Which one's the real door?"

Amy paused for a moment. "It's the one on the far right. We're going to hide in the one next to it. You get in the fake one and I'll open the right path. With any luck, Metal Sonic will think we've moved into the next room."

For a moment, Sonic protested. He said, "Amy, that's too dangerous."

She lost her composure for a moment and said, "Look, would you rather Metal Sonic catch up to us? It's the best plan that we've got right now. We can open two doors at once this way."

Sonic immediately did what Amy said, recognizing that she was right. She knew this area better than he did, and he trusted her.

In mere moments, Amy put her plan in motion. Sonic and Amy hid inside the empty passageway, while the correct door was left open. They were at the back of the short hallway.

Amy gave Sonic some quick advice. Whispering, she said, "Keep your voice down."

He nodded, too scared to really say anything. Despite their fear, Amy actually stood in front of Sonic, ready with her hammer in case Metal Sonic decided to investigate their hiding spot. She figured that she could buy Sonic a little time if she tried to fight off Metal Sonic. That way, Sonic could rush ahead and get out of here. Hopefully, the Chaos Emerald was at the end of this area and they would be one step closer to assembling all of them.

Metal Sonic sped into the room with five doors. He only saw one open door. It was the correct one. He quickly calculated that there was no greater probability that they had opened the door on any other attempt. He also recognized that Dr. Eggman had modeled this area as an exact replica of his former base, making sure that it was incredibly difficult to traverse. Overconfident, he had installed the same exit route; doubtless, one of the hedgehogs knew the route and told the other where it was.

He sped through the open door and attempted to find Sonic and Amy. However, they were nowhere to be found. Metal Sonic became somewhat suspicious when he noticed that they had not taken the dark blue Chaos Emerald, sitting on a pedestal in the last room. However, it was at least safe. The other duo was more dangerous; they had a radar that tracked Chaos Emeralds. Perhaps Sonic had intentionally left it and gone to join his other companions.

That had a low probability, but Metal Sonic quickly recognized that he had chased after the wrong duo. He would not leave Knuckles and Tails alone now. He left the Chaos Emerald and proceeded to follow the others.

Amy had pressed her ear against the door. Since she could no longer hear the hum of Metal Sonic's engine, she motioned to Sonic, telling him that it was safe to move along. Their desperate attempt had worked.

Before Amy opened the door, Sonic said, "Hold on a second, Amy."

She was a bit confused. Sonic was more than ready to keep on running. She asked, "What is it, Sonic?"

"Amy," he said, "I never really got a chance to thank you for saving my life."

Confused, she said, "Sure you did. You just never took that chance."

"Look, we might not get out of this in one piece, and I want you to know that I care."

Amy tried to stop Sonic, saying, "I know that we'll get out of this. You're Sonic the Hedgehog; nothing's stopped you before, except…"

Sonic picked up right where Amy left off. "Yeah, except for Eggman."

"So, what's your point? We all knew that we didn't have the best odds of survival when we started this mission."

Sonic looked at Amy and said, "That's why I'm thanking you." Fast as lightning, Sonic took Amy in his arms and kissed her, lightly and quickly.

Shocked, Amy looked at Sonic and asked, "What was that all about?"

"I wanted to let you know I care. Do me a favor, and don't tell the others about this."

Indignant, Amy asked, "Why's that? So they won't tease you about this?"

"No. I don't want you to tell them so they don't distract themselves by looking after you more. Knuckles can't keep a secret to save his life, and Eggman will use this to his advantage. I don't want to see you hurt."

Amy saw the sincerity in Sonic's eyes and softly said, "All right. I won't tell them." After a few moments, she blushed slightly and said, "Thank you."

Sonic smiled and said, "Don't worry about that, champ. Now, let's get out of here."

In a few minutes, Sonic and Amy had reached the end of this area, and they found the purple Chaos Emerald sitting on a pedestal. Sonic asked Amy if there would be any traps around. After all, she was the one more familiar with this area. When she said that there weren't any, he grabbed the fifth emerald.

This small rebellion had quickly amassed four Chaos Emeralds. Only three were left. 'Maybe,' Sonic thought, 'we do stand a chance after all.'


	9. Pursuit Part 2

Amy motioned to Sonic that they should get out of the base. He agreed and suggested that they head toward Station Square, so they could try and track down Tails and Knuckles.

Those two had split from Sonic and Amy when Metal Sonic started chasing after the two of them. They sprinted toward Station Square, hoping that they could avoid the metallic pursuer. They were not as fast as Sonic, but they were both fast enough to seek safety.

Before too long, Knuckles noticed that they were no longer being pursued. He stopped running and called out to Tails. He said, "Tails, slow down. He's not following us any more."

Tails stopped and listened for a second. Though he heard cars in the area, he recognized that Knuckles was right. He could not hear the hum of Metal Sonic's engine, so it must be gone. The robot had followed Sonic and Amy. So, there was time for Tails and Knuckles to search for the next Chaos Emerald.

Tails answered, "You're right. That's a bit of a relief."

Knuckles didn't quite see the situation Tails' way. "I don't know about that. It means that Metal Sonic's going after Sonic and Amy. It's only a matter of time before he recognizes that they don't know where the Chaos Emeralds are and that we have that radar."

Tails recognized Knuckles' point and said, "Sorry, you're right."

Knuckles realized that Tails had been a little hurt by his comment. So, he attempted to remedy the situation. He told him, "There's no need to be sorry. It just means that we've got to look for our emerald while we still have the chance. Do you know where it is?"

Tails understood and nodded. "The Chaos Emerald seems to be located at the other end of the city, where Sonic first fought Chaos."

Knuckles picked up and said, "That's where I went after some Master Emerald Shards. That's the Speed Highway."

"You're right! Well then, this shouldn't be too hard to track down then, right?"

"I don't know about that one, Tails?"

"What do you mean? It's a straight shot, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Speed Highway is a crowded couple of city blocks. There's so much there, and there's not a linear track through it."

Tails was confused, but then he realized something. "Oh, we went through different parts of Speed Highway, didn't we?"

"That would make sense, wouldn't it? Well, we're not going to get much done if we just stand around here and talk about what it was like there, are we?"

"You're right; let's go."

Tails and Knuckles ran over to the entrance to Speed Highway, at the edge of the city. They found themselves underneath a bell, right on the edge of downtown Station Square. Cars honked and made a lot of noise. This was a very loud part of town.

Yelling slightly, Knuckles asked, "Tails, where does the radar say the Chaos Emerald is?"

Tails pointed forward and said, "It says that it's on the other side of that building."

Knuckles nodded and said, "Follow me. I know a shortcut to get through it."

He jumped and started to glide above the fountain and to the building on the other side. Using his fists, he climbed up the side of the building and moved into a small alcove built into the structure. Tails simply flew up there.

Tails congratulated Knuckles, not thinking that there would be this little passageway. He then looked back at the radar and motioned that it looked like the emerald would be across the street and down the next path.

Knuckles again led the way, and he and Tails wound up on the top of a building across the street. This time, Knuckles didn't need to ask where the radar said the next emerald was. He could see it. It was down the path little further, sitting just inside another building.

Without a second thought, Knuckles sped towards the purple Chaos Emerald. He grabbed it and had no problems getting it. However, he noticed that something else was wrong.

When Tails came over to the location, Knuckles yelled "Get down!"

Tails was confused for a second, but then he noticed something else too. The city had gotten too quiet. There were no longer cars honking and humming. Instead, there was a singular hum, and it was Metal Sonic's engine.

Laying down, trying not to make a sound, Tails and Knuckles tried to avoid Metal Sonic's detection. However, they quickly realized that things were not going to be that easy. They were right in the area the Chaos Emerald was, and Metal Sonic was likely to check it.

Tails recognized that they only had one chance, and he told Knuckles about it. Metal Sonic didn't seem to know about the alcove; otherwise he would have taken that route towards the emerald. So, they needed to go through it quickly and quietly in order to avoid detection.

Metal Sonic was not in sight, so Knuckles motioned that he and Tails should move, trying to get to the passageway. They attempted to sneak as quickly and quietly as they could. Knuckles sent Tails into the alcove first, since his flying was a little slower than Knuckles' climbing and he had the radar.

Tails safely made his way into the shortcut. Knuckles was not as fortunate. Just as he pulled himself onto the ledge, Metal Sonic noticed him. The robot announced, "The intruders have been located. Activating pursuit."

In a fit of panic, Knuckles yelled to Tails, "Run!"

Knuckles stayed right behind Tails, following him out of downtown Station Square. They kept running, with Metal Sonic right behind them, down the city streets. Right before they reached Twinkle Park, Tails took a sharp left, and Knuckles followed behind him.

They dove into the water and moved quickly. Tails led Knuckles down the waterway, and they followed it to a grate. Just before they reached that grate, Tails grabbed Knuckles and started to fly. They moved through a hole in the ceiling, and into a hidden room.

Tails motioned for them to go through the doorway in that room and hide in the next room. He and Knuckles pressed themselves against the wall, hoping that they could avoid detection this time. There wasn't supposed to be a Chaos Emerald here, so maybe Metal Sonic would think to avoid it.

Metal Sonic stopped at the edge of the water. He had been foiled. He could handle getting wet in small bursts, but he could not handle submersing himself in water. If he knew how to hover, he would attempt to chase after them, but he could not. Since the fox and echidna had bested him, he figured that he would go and make sure that the green Chaos Emerald was safe.

Tails and Knuckles stayed pressed up against the doorway, listening for any sound. They soon recognized that Metal Sonic's hum was gone. Knuckles volunteered to go out into the next room and look for him.

Taking shallow breaths, Knuckles looked for any signs of Metal Sonic's presence. He heard no hum; he saw nothing that suggested a robot was near. He called to Tails, saying that the area seemed clear and that they could move down into the water.

Tails asked, "Are you sure?"

Knuckles said, "Look, I can't get back up here if I don't have you to help me. I need your help."

Tails recognized that it took a lot for Knuckles to admit that he needed help. Normally, he was in control and wanted to stay that way. He didn't say much, but what he said was full of meaning.

Tails said, "All right. I'll come along."

So, they jumped back into the water and cautiously made their way towards Twinkle Park. Luckily, there was no trace of Metal Sonic. When they reached the water's edge, they both breathed a sigh of relief. Without the threat of Metal Sonic looming over them, they could focus on trying to find Sonic and Amy.

Knuckles asked Tails, "Hey, where does that radar say that Sonic and Amy's emerald is?"

Tails looked at his radar and said, "It says that they're close. In fact, they ought to be just inside the station."

"Well, that's a relief."

As Tails and Knuckles walked towards the station, Sonic and Amy came out of it. Sonic called out, "Tails, Knuckles, it's good to see that you guys are all right."

Tails smiled and said "I could say the same about you two."

Reunited, the duos shared the story of how they managed to escape Metal Sonic and find their emeralds. Amy kept her promise to Sonic, and Tails and knuckles were none the wiser. Sonic was really surprised to hear that Metal Sonic had managed to track down Knuckles and Tails. Still he was relieved that the cleverly managed to escape him.

Once they were done sharing stories, they agreed that they needed to go out and find another Chaos Emerald. With only two left, it seemed that they would be very heavily guarded from here on out. This mission could only get more dangerous, but they were ready; there really was no other choice.


	10. Revelation

Tails pointed to the east. He said, "The next Chaos Emerald's that way, and we've got a long trek over there."

Sonic remembered that there wasn't much to the east from Station Square except a lot of water. There was Prison Island, but that was a long way away, and he couldn't swim. The last time he had been there, the military had arrested and imprisoned him for a crime he didn't commit.

Skeptical, Sonic asked him, "How are we going to get to it? There's nothing but water before the island."

Tails smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked that, Sonic. Before we left our shelter, I made sure that we had a little provision in case this sort of thing happened." He revealed that he had four bubble shields. "Each of us will take one of these. That means that we'll have to avoid getting hurt on our way to and from the Chaos Emerald. Understand?"

Everybody nodded, and Sonic sighed in relief. He did not have to worry about drowning, at least this time. So, the four heroes made their way to Prison Island, unscathed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman noticed that those four pests had outsmarted Metal Sonic once again. He cursed himself for not making the robot more intelligent, but then recognized that this was a worthless venture. He could tell that they were headed for the sixth emerald, and that meant trouble. He also saw that Metal Sonic was checking on the location of the seventh emerald.

Once again, he berated the robot. "I thought I told you to stop them from getting the other Chaos Emeralds. Now go to the location of the sixth Chaos Emerald and give our friend a little help."

Metal Sonic responded, "Affirmative, sir." With that, he sped off for Prison Island to look for the white Chaos Emerald, to make sure that it was safe. Luckily, he was a good distance from the island already, which gave the rebellion a chance to capture it first.

By this time, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy had successfully arrived at Prison Island and were closing in on the location of the Chaos Emerald. Tails could quickly tell that the emerald was not in the jungle, which meant that it must be on the military base. More specifically, Tails pointed out that the emerald must be in the vicinity of Metal Harbor.

When he heard this, Sonic smiled and chuckled to himself. Metal Harbor, though a dangerous area, was a place he had fond memories of. For once, he could just speed along a path without worrying about being cautious or stealthy. It had been too long since he had done that sort of thing.

As soon as the group reached the first metallic platform, Sonic took off running ahead of them. He easily cleared the first jump and loop while the others were struggling to keep up with his speed. He grinded on a rail, cleared another jump, destroyed some robots, and sped along a trail of rings to an isolated platform.

Sonic was the only one who had followed this route, so none of the others knew what to expect at Metal Harbor. Also, Sonic had taken the fastest route, leaving everybody else to take the slower route. All of them screamed for Sonic to slow down, but none of the screams were as shrill or as effective as Amy's.

Sonic impatiently waited for the others, but the screams made him realize that he had done something wrong. He assumed that they all knew how to maneuver around the rest of the area and were able to keep up with his pace.

Arriving with Tails and Knuckles, Amy gave Sonic an earful. Angry, she said, "Listen to me, Sonic the Hedgehog. You are the only one who knows the layout of this area. That makes it your job to tell us which way to go, not to leave us in the dust. Do you understand me?"

Sonic understood and apologized. "You're right, Amy. You guys, I'm sorry. You guys lead the pack, and I'll show you how to get by."

So, with each passing gap, Sonic used either his homing attack or his light dash to cross the gaps. Tails flew Amy to the other side, and Knuckles glided and climbed up the wall. They moved more slowly as a group, but Sonic's expertise made the journey smooth. Sonic wanted to run, but he recognized that the life and safety of the team came first.

Eventually, they came to the giant rocket on a countdown. Sonic said, "All right, guys, this is going to be a bit tricky. We're all going to have to follow this walkway, but we've got to do it quickly. What's going to happen is that we're going to have to get to the first lift. If we stay on task, this should only take us about ten seconds, which is good, since we've only got fifteen to make it. We're going to catch a ride on that rocket."

The others looked at Sonic as if he'd lost his mind, but he assured them that this was the correct way to go. If they tried another technique, it would ultimately not be successful, and there was just enough room for four people on the missile, if they squeezed close together.

With a little luck and a lot of guidance, they climbed up to the first platform. However, there was only room for three of them. Sonic said, "Don't worry; I'll catch the higher one." Before the others could argue, Sonic was gone and had started to work towards the top platform.

Racing against time, Sonic tried to hurry up to the top of the rocket. He smashed robots and sped along a trail of rings, thinking he'd be just short of the time limit. With half a second before the missile launched, he managed to hit the spring and catch onto the platform.

When they were a certain point in the air, Sonic leapt off of the missile and yelled to the others, as he saw them, "Jump!" Trusting in Sonic's insanity, they managed to free themselves from the rocket and jump down.

They crashed through a roof, and Sonic said to take slats of the roof and use them like snowboards, grinding down the slick corridor. After sliding down and crossing one more loop, they made it to the platform where the sixth Chaos Emerald was supposed to be. However, they found that something was waiting for them instead.

It was not Metal Sonic, but a flying robot waiting for them. It looked a lot like the Flying Dog robot, but none of them had fought it. This was a robot that Rouge the Bat had fought, and she was not the type to share battle stories with anyone, not even Knuckles.

Seeing its flight, Sonic recognized that he would be useless without his friends. The only one who stood any chance of attacking it directly would be Amy, and that was if she was willing to throw her hammer, which might not come back. He quickly decided against asking for any help with that. But, while he was still thinking of strategy, the robot shot at Sonic, hitting him, and eliminating his bubble shield. Sonic was defenseless.

Amy yelled to Sonic, "Stand on my hammer!"

Sonic, recognizing that he had no better plans, tried Amy's advice. As soon as he was on top of the hammer, she swung and launched Sonic high enough in the air to launch an attack at the robot.

Amid the blazing gunfire and missiles the robot launched, both Tails and Amy took turns launching Sonic and Knuckles up to try and attack this robot. As soon as they launched others up, they had to find a new spot, because a missile was inevitably coming for them.

This strategy proved to be rather effective, and the robot quickly started to show signs of damage. However, nobody escaped unscathed. None of the bubble shields remained by the end of the fight. The robot had managed to shoot them off.

In an attempt to deliver a final blow, Tails lifted Sonic into the air and flew him to a spot just above the robot. Sonic leapt out of Tails' hands, and launched himself at the robot's cockpit. The attack was a perfect bull's-eye, hitting the robot squarely.

It fell to the ground in a pile of smoke and crushed metal. Right inside the cockpit was the sixth Chaos Emerald, and the four took a moment to celebrate. They only had one more emerald to get before they attacked Eggman, who would be powerless to stop them.

However, they noticed that something was not right. They heard the familiar hum of Metal Sonic's engine, and started to panic. They had no bubble shields left, and the only way they knew out of this island was through the water, since they had no airplanes.

Sonic turned to Tails, somewhat nervous, and said, "Tails, can you turn this bucket of bolts into a plane?"

Tails said, "I think I can, but you're going to need to buy me some time."

Knuckles said, "That won't be a problem. Sonic and I will give you as much as we can. Right, Sonic?"

Sonic didn't respond with words, but he simply nodded, raising his fists in front of his face. Neither of them was going to go down without a fight. Even Amy stepped forward with her hammer to try and stop this attack.

Metal Sonic appeared and, without a word, started to go for Tails, since he had the radar for the Chaos Emeralds. This time, he had decided that he would not attempt to go after Sonic first. However, he did not expect the three fighters to give him any trouble. He expected them to simply give up the fight. That didn't happen.

As Tails frantically worked to fix up the flying robot, Knuckles punched at Metal Sonic. The robot dodged swiftly away from the attack, but did not expect Amy to anticipate the dodge and strike with her hammer. It smashed right into Metal Sonic's left arm, since he noticed it quickly enough to avoid taking major damage.

Sonic, from behind, delivered a homing attack. Metal Sonic did not anticipate this attack at all and fell forward, taking the full brunt of the attack. However, it did not want to play games any longer with these three. Metal Sonic released a black prism from inside of its body, enveloping it in a resistant armor.

From there, it moved at a faster speed and grabbed Knuckles' fist. He spun the echidna around and threw him into the air. Then, he leapt upwards and smashed Knuckles into the ground, fracturing the platform in the process.

Amy took a step backwards in horror. She didn't know that Metal Sonic would be this powerful; it was terrifying. He leered at her next, preparing to make her his next victim. Sonic, instead, leapt in front of her, knocking Amy to the ground and out of harm's way.

Metal Sonic chuckled darkly. He hadn't expected to attack Sonic this soon. But this turn of events did not surprise him. It was perfectly likely for Sonic to do this, slightly more likely than him being paralyzed by fear. He pulled his arm back and readied to strike at Sonic. Sonic dodged out of the way, but Metal Sonic had another attack prepared, and suddenly appeared behind Sonic and grabbed him.

Jumping high into the air, Metal Sonic flipped Sonic around, while in midair, and started to descend. He smashed Sonic's head into the platform as well, splintering it even more. If he did a similar thing to Amy, the platform would break open, leaving Tails to fend for his comrades who couldn't swim.

Tails finally got the machine to work, and recognized how bad the danger was. He had little time to come up with a strategy to save his friends. Without thinking, he grabbed Sonic and Knuckles and swiftly placed them into the flying robot. Then, just as Metal Sonic was about to strike Amy, as she stood, completely paralyzed in fear, Tails tried to kick Metal Sonic from behind.

To his shock, he managed to temporarily disrupt Metal Sonic's prism and distract him. In that instant, he and Amy jumped into the robotic aircraft and started flying it to the location of the next emerald.

Tails handed the radar over to Amy and said, "I need you to tell me where the last Chaos Emerald is."

Amy guided Tails in the general direction of the emerald, with Metal Sonic pursuing them at full blast. The closer they got to the emerald, the more they recognized that it was right outside of Eggman's base.

In the midst of the flight, Sonic and Knuckles came to their senses. They were still groggy and sore, but they recognized that they nearly had succeeded in their goal. That last emerald was within their grasp.

Tails landed the robot and everybody got out of it. Sonic rushed for the last Chaos Emerald, but he heard a voice first. It said, "Stop that."

He recognized that the voice belonged to Shadow the Hedgehog and asked, "Shadow, what are you doing here?"

Dismissing Sonic's question, he said, "There's no time for games. Go back."

Confused, Sonic asked, "What are you talking about?"

He said, "These emeralds you've been tracking are all fakes."

Tails said, "I don't believe you Shadow."

Shadow decided to give them all the proof that they needed. He grabbed the seventh Chaos Emerald, the green one, and threw it to the ground. It shattered instantly.


	11. Metal Madness

Everybody was speechless. Shadow had (quite literally) shattered their hopes, and there was nothing that they could do. He spoke again and said, "I told you that these emeralds were fakes. The doctor's got them all still, you fools!"

Tails looked at Shadow with tears welling up in his eyes. He asked, "So, does that mean that—"

Shadow, rather impatient, said, "Yes. Your radar was tracking the fake emeralds instead. Don't you think that Dr. Eggman would have thought that you'd have a gadget like that? He is a master of electronics; he could easily corrupt the signal of your tracker and have it recognize fake emeralds and not real emeralds."

Knuckles butted in, saying, "Don't you think that I could tell the difference between real and fake emeralds? I've been dealing with them all my life."

"I believe that the little fox said that fakes 'have the same wavelength and properties' as the originals. With all seven emeralds, Eggman was able to create fakes that were strong enough to power robots and whole cities."

Amy tried to construct another valid defense, saying, "But all the emeralds were well-guarded."

"No. Metal Sonic made them difficult to reach; the others were hardly guarded at all. Dr. Eggman wanted you to capture them. They were too easy to get, weren't they?"

Sonic, tired of Shadow's condescending tone yelled back, "Then why are you telling us this?"

"You foolish faker, I want to see him out of power too."

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't buy it. Tell me where one of the seven real emeralds is."

Shadow lifted his hand and pointed behind them. Metal Sonic was rushing towards them, and its black prism was in full force. "That robot's powered by one. That's how it's been so overwhelmingly strong."

Sonic did not want to admit it, but he knew that Shadow was right. There was only really one solution to this problem; they had to defeat Metal Sonic. Looking for a little good will, he asked Shadow, "So, are you going to help us with this fight?"

Shadow laughed. He said, "If you can't defeat Metal Sonic with one Chaos Emerald, then how can you possibly defeat the doctor when he's got six of them? You're only worth my time if you can defeat him. Good luck, faker."

With that, Shadow disappeared into the shadows of Eggman's base. Sonic knew that there really was no other way to deal with Shadow. They had to meet his demands if they wanted his help.

When Sonic heard Shadow quoting Tails' old explanation of fake Chaos Emeralds, he started to think of a plan. He turned to the others and asked, "I've got an idea, but I'm going to need your help. Tails, do you think that these fake emeralds are as powerful as the one you made back before we went to ARK?"

Tails examined the other emeralds quickly. Pointing to the red and purple ones, he said, "Only these two are comparable to the strength of my fake emeralds. They've been used pretty heavily otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if those ones break after a single use."

Sonic smiled and said, "Then, that gives us at least 7 or 8 chances here. I like our odds."

Everybody else was confused and so Amy asked, "Sonic, what do you mean?"

As Metal Sonic approached, Sonic whispered his strategy to the others. Then, he picked up the remaining six false emeralds and proceeded to stand tall against Metal Sonic. All four refused to back down. They felt confident that they could stand against this mechanical foe thanks to Sonic's strategy.

Metal Sonic paused for a moment, staring down the small resistance. He coldly asked, "Are you ready to die?"

Sonic, with his old cocky grin, said, "Bring it, Metal-head."

Metal Sonic quickly charged at his organic counterpart. Sonic saw this coming and took off running. He mocked the robot as he kept going. Consumed by pursuit and sensors focused on Sonic's voice, Metal Sonic didn't notice Knuckles following behind them.

At a certain point, Sonic turned around and ran in the opposite direction. He jumped over Metal Sonic as he passed him. Metal Sonic reversed his course to catch Sonic. However, Knuckles' fist was right there. He punched the android. Though the prism protected him, Metal Sonic was caught by surprise, and it faded momentarily. Knuckles used that chance to punch Metal Sonic again. This time, he hit the robot's face, causing a bit of damage.

While Metal Sonic was still dazed, Sonic appeared behind him. A cracking sound accompanied his appearance. He jumped and launched himself into a homing attack. He connected with the back of Metal Sonic. Immediately, the machine turned around and saw that Sonic had attacked him.

Again, he followed Sonic in pursuit. This time, Amy and Tails followed behind them. Sonic used the same strategy as the last time, and so Amy's hammer connected squarely with Metal Sonic's prism shield. This time, as it faded from surprise, it started to show signs of wear, with a faint crack appearing in it.

As the shield faded, Tails whacked Metal Sonic with his tails, hurting the robot. And, just like last time, Sonic appeared behind the attack, accompanied by a cracking sound. He launched himself towards Metal Sonic again.

However, this time Metal was ready for the attack and turned to catch Sonic's attack. That also left Tails and Amy open to attack Metal Sonic from behind. As they continued to attack, the prism started to show signs of heavy wear. The faint crack turned into a series of small visible fractures.

Recognizing that he was being attacked, Metal Sonic forcefully threw Sonic to the ground and turned his attention on Tails and Amy. In one swift motion, he swiped across them and knocked them both to the ground. Then, spinning at a very fast rate, he attempted to attack all three of them without allowing them the chance to recover.

Suddenly, Knuckles bored down at the top of the prism. He had climbed several stories up the outside of Eggman's base and then glided over to where Metal Sonic was. Then, using gravity, he spiraled into a drilling attack. The first impact weakened the prism to a very fragile state. Then, since it faded, Knuckles then drilled into Metal Sonic's head.

The attack did very heavy damage, leaving the robot with a dent in the top of its head. It also gave Amy, Tails, and Sonic a chance to recover. Sonic grabbed the other two and ran a decent distance away. He and Knuckles were the most capable fighters, and he didn't want to risk Tails and Amy getting unnecessarily hurt.

Then, as Metal Sonic started to deal with Knuckles, Sonic grabbed a third fake emerald and warped behind Metal Sonic. Like the others, this one shattered after one use of Chaos Control, but it had served its purpose. Sonic launched himself towards Metal Sonic again. He knew that, whether or not he successfully damaged Metal Sonic here, it would give Knuckles a chance to recover or retaliate.

As luck would have it, Metal Sonic did not expect this and Sonic's homing attack collided with the black prism. It shattered into a number of pieces. This meant that Metal Sonic would be more susceptible to damage.

Taking full advantage of the situation, Sonic yelled, "What do you think of that, Metal-head?"

Metal Sonic did not respond with words. Instead, he activated a stronger fighting mechanism. He suddenly turned towards Sonic and struck him with such force in such rapid succession that Sonic was, for a few moments, little else than a crumpled heap. If Knuckles hadn't taken the opportunity to punch at the distracted robot, Sonic would have been completely defeated.

Unfortunately, this meant that Metal Sonic turned his attention on Knuckles. Though his body was taking heavy damage, Metal Sonic did not notice that; rage consumed him. He viciously attacked Knuckles, parrying each counterattack.

Recognizing that situations were getting desperate and they were running short of false Chaos Emeralds, Sonic decided to do something a bit drastic. He held out the yellow fake, recognizing that it was the last of the weak four emeralds. He started to yell "Sonic Wind," but he was cut off by two unfortunate events.

First, the emerald shattered in his hands. Second, Metal Sonic grabbed at the purple fake emerald. Within seconds, he had destroyed the gem. Sonic only had one false emerald left, and he needed it in order to attack Metal Sonic. Right now, he lacked the strength to outrun his metallic counterpart. He could only hope that this fake emerald had enough energy for one last bit of trickery.

He took off running and hoped that he would have enough time. Using Chaos Control took a lot of concentration. Sonic had never used it while running before, but he knew that he really didn't have a choice at the moment. He closed his eyes and thought of where he would need to reappear.

Hoping to make his attempt stronger, Sonic yelled, "Chaos Control!"

Metal Sonic knew that Sonic was attempting to warp. He noticed that Sonic was no longer in front of him. He expected his prey to be right behind him, like each of the other times he had used the technique. It had worked in the past, so Metal Sonic had no reason to believe Sonic would change his plan of attack. He turned around and was surprised that he didn't see Sonic there. Instead, Sonic was several yards away, already concentrating.

Sonic had his eyes closed and his hands tightly clasped around the artificial red Chaos emerald. The gem bore a faint crack; whatever Sonic was going to do would be the last thing the emerald was capable of doing. Metal Sonic sped closer and closer to Sonic.

At the last instant, Sonic opened his eyes and shouted "Sonic Wind!" The emerald cracked further as blue energy approached Metal Sonic. The force of this energy, coming in sharp wisps of wind, connected with Metal Sonic, despite his best efforts to avoid them.

The blasts dug into the body of Metal Sonic and destroyed it. One blast severed both of his legs and another two removed both of his arms. A fourth blast burrowed into the body of the robot, right near its core. The last blast cut through the robot's head, right between the eyes.

Sonic's red gem shattered into fragments. It no longer had strength, but it had served its purpose well. He breathed a sigh of relief and sank to his knees for a moment. That fight had taken a great deal out of both him and his team; they were exhausted and hurt. Still, they had managed to defeat Metal Sonic, a feat in itself.

He eventually got back to his feet and trudged over to the wreckage of Metal Sonic. He knelt down and started to look at the pieces, hoping to find the Chaos Emerald that powered it. He started by looking at the body of the robot. The energy blast had struck it right above its engine.

Sonic stuck his hand into that cavity and felt something hard in the midst of the smooth hole. He continued to feel around, hoping that it would be the emerald. However, he could not pull it out on his own. So, Sonic reached over for one of Metal Sonic's arms. He used the sharp fingers to make the hole bigger.

In a few moments, Sonic had cleared enough space to remove the obstruction. He pulled it out and looked at it. This was the true green Chaos Emerald. He held it above his head in triumph, as a signal to his three teammates, Shadow, and Dr. Eggman. There was hope again.


	12. Eggman's Base

Quickly, he rushed over to Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. These were his friends, and their well-being was more important to him than Shadow's aid or stopping Eggman. He only hoped that nothing would get in his way.

Knuckles looked pretty beat-up, but Tails and Amy were in good shape. They may have been weaker, but they were extremely valuable because of their other skills. He'd need brains, as well as brawn to fight their way through Eggman's base. Unlike last time, it was likely to be loaded with robots and other traps.

By the time Sonic got over to his friends, Tails and Amy were back on their feet, looking after Knuckles. He saw this and asked, "How bad is he?"

Amy looked back at him and said, "He's not in good shape, but he'll pull through. I just don't think that we can leave him out here on his own."

In the past, Sonic would have gotten frustrated. This time, he said, "Then I'll take him through this base."

Taken aback, Tails said, "Sonic, that's not a smart idea at all."

Looking to the ground for a moment, Sonic muttered, "You all have bailed me out of some selfish and dumb ideas. This one's for Knuckles."

Amy saw what Sonic was doing, and she said, "Sonic, you will not do any such thing."

"What do you mean, Amy?"

"I know that you're trying to help Knuckles, but this is only going to put him into harm's way. You can't drag him into that fortress, where Eggman can monitor us and take advantage of our weaknesses." Blushing slightly, she added, "You taught me that."

"So, one of us has to stay with him and protect him?"

"That would seem to be the best course of action."

Sonic wanted to volunteer, but he knew that he couldn't. Odds are strong that Knuckles would recover eventually, and he wouldn't need a strong fighter to keep watch over him. Taking charge, he said, "Tails, you stay back and watch out for Knuckles."

Tails didn't expect this. Confused but not indignant, he asked, "Why me?"

Looking Tails right in the eye, Sonic said, "Because you're our best defense. If something goes wrong, you're more likely to be able to hide Knuckles since you can fly. I know my way through the base, because I went through it before. Also, Amy packs a little bit more of a punch with that hammer than you do with those tails of yours."

Satisfied with the answer, Tails responded, "All right, Sonic. I'll do it!"

Smiling, Sonic patted Tails on the head and said, "Thanks for understanding, little buddy." Turning to Amy, he said, "Let's go."

To show her support, Amy just nodded and started walking towards the base. When they were a little ways out, she turned to Sonic and said, "I'm surprised, Sonic."

"Why's that?"

"Well, after what happened in the Death Egg, I thought that you'd have me stay back and guard Knuckles, just in case something went wrong."

He reached out and patted her on the shoulder further from him. "Amy," he said, "Like I told you there, I don't want to see you hurt. I couldn't give you any special treatment, and I honestly think your hammer's going to come in handy here."

Noting the sincerity in Sonic's voice, Amy said, "Thanks. That means a lot to me." She knew that it was the time to be determined, not the time to focus on the past. He had made his decision, intentionally bringing her into more danger than Tails, out of instinct. She trusted that, even though it had already led to a lot of trouble. Regardless of what anybody else said, she would trust Sonic with her life.

Just before they reached the base, Shadow walked out of the darkness and said, "You could have done better, but your strategy wasn't awful."

Sonic asked, "So, does this mean that you're going to help us?"

Impressed by that directness, Shadow said, "I want the emerald."

Moving it away, Sonic said, "You won't get it until we've stopped Eggman. I don't trust you enough to give you our only Chaos Emerald, especially when he's got the other six."

Shadow scoffed at Sonic, "And what makes you think that you can use the emerald better than me?"

"Nothing does. Call this a security measure, Shadow."

Sensing that this could get out of hand quickly, Amy moved in between them and said, "Well, boys, what do we do about this Eggman?"

Sonic and Shadow responded at roughly the same time, both echoing the sentiment that they had to go in there, avoid any traps, and stop Eggman, no matter the cost. Somewhat frightened by their ferocity, Amy nodded and said, "I'm in too. Shall we?"

As the three approached Eggman's base, it continued to rise higher and higher. The metallic behemoth was easily seven or eight stories high. As always, it resembled an egg, expanding outward and then contracting as one went up. They were prepared for the base to be a maze of corridors and pathways, leading to the center where Eggman would be waiting. Each took a deep breath and entered; there was no turning back.

Passing through the large front door, they were instantly greeted by a swarm of robots. These were rather simple Buzz Bombers and Motobugs. Quickly, the boys dispatched of the flying robots using their homing attacks. Amy, somewhat defensively, spun her hammer around her in a circle, fighting off the charging Motobugs. Still, their strategy proved to be effective, eliminating each of the robots with no damage.

As they looked towards the far end of the room, they saw a spring. Successively, each of the three jumped on it and rose through the ceiling. Landing in the next room, they saw more robots. Eggman was taking no chances with intruders, because these were machines of a decidedly stronger character. In the absence of Metal Sonic, there were three robots based on the resistance: Amy, Tails, and Knuckles.

Though not as complete as Metal Sonic, these three robots were still strong. The three fighters were taken aback by more robots like this. Still, they did not show great fear. Shadow dictated which person would fight against which robot. Sonic would fight the metallic Amy; Amy would battle the metallic Tails, and Shadow would clash with the metallic Knuckles.

His reasoning was fairly simple. Sonic knew Amy's tendencies and was fast enough to avoid them. Amy could use her hammer to propel herself into the air and battle with Tails. Shadow felt that Knuckles was, by far, the most predictable of the three, and so he could hold his own in competition against him.

This proved to be an effective strategy. Sonic fought against Amy's robot, realizing quickly that her hammer was also spiked. It tried to strike at him, but Sonic could see through every swing. Modeled after Amy, this robot was simply too slow for him.

At one point, it tried launching itself into the air, using its hammer like a spring. Sonic smirked. The robot would be following a linear path, so he moved out of its way. As it was on its way down, Sonic got behind it and hit it from behind.

This only made the robot more predictable in its fury. It swung its hammer faster and faster. Sonic easily evaded every attack, making it look like child's play. The robot temporarily took him by surprise when it swung a little too wildly. In its haste, it lost control of the hammer.

Luckily, it did not come close to the other fights, which gave Sonic plenty of chance to avoid it. Unfortunately, it was coming right at him, faster than he expected. Without thinking, he grabbed the Chaos Emerald and used it to warp behind the robot. Using a powerful spin dash, he was able to put the machine out of commission.

Sonic was glad that he had defeated the robot, but he was not content with the way he had done it. He wanted to keep his Chaos Emerald a secret. Now, inside Eggman's base, the bad doctor was certainly watching and would prepare a way to counteract the emerald's power before the group made it to him.

All the while, Amy was not faring quite as well against Tails' robot. After she had proven to be somewhat competent in ground combat, the robot took to the air. It continued to fly upwards and dive-bomb Amy at breakneck speed. Since the assaults were from such a great height, Amy always had time to get out of the way unscathed.

Unfortunately, all she was able to do was evade the strikes. As soon as the robot noticed that it had missed, it would rise again and ready another strike. The android assumed that this was a foolproof strategy, one that could not possibly lead to defeat, so it continued to use that tactic. Amy struggled to find anything that could possibly work against it, and eventually inspiration hit.

Taking out her hammer, Amy stood perfectly still. As her opponent started to begin his descent, she started to swing her hammer in a downward arc, building power as it continued. With perfect timing, she slammed the robot's head into the ground.

Though its head was underneath the hammer, the metallic Tails still tried to attack Amy. It spun its tails and managed to clip Amy, causing some slight bloodshed. In frustration, she smashed the robot with her hammer, crushing its body and finishing it off.

Amy was a bit hurt by the battle, but she was still just fine. She had hoped to be a more effective fighter, but she had done her job; the robot was defeated, and she had done so without having to propel herself into the air with her hammer. It was a risky move that Amy primarily only used for evasive purposes.

Meanwhile, Shadow was struggling more against the Knuckles robot more than Sonic or Amy had. This was by far the strongest robot, and it was more intelligent than he had expected. Dr. Eggman had expected Knuckles to fight this robot and to be outmatched by it, letting the robot loose to fight the others in two-on-one battles that they would be sure to lose.

The robot had a special ability in its attack. In the midst of punching, it would launch its fists at the victim. Shadow did not realize that this would be the case from the get-go, so he took the first two punches squarely.

As Shadow struggled to regain his breath, the robot charged towards him, readying to strike again. He barely managed to avoid the strong punches, dodging left and right, still wheezing. In the midst of this, he tried to sink to the ground and kick the robot's legs out from underneath it. This was a remotely successful venture, since it gave Shadow the time he needed to regain his breath.

However, the robot quickly returned to his feet, ready to charge again. This time, Shadow was ready for it to launch its fists. When it did, Shadow sped off to the left before moving in for a vicious homing attack strike. That did not work. Just before he curled into a ball, Shadow was hit by the fists from behind.

It turns out that these fists were more like homing missiles. Once the robotic Knuckles had chosen a target, the fists would hone in on it and stop at nothing to complete their assault.

Shadow hit the ground hard, landing face-first. Immediately, the robot charged towards him, ready to deliver a finishing blow. Fortunately, Sonic had noticed this and was done fighting the metal Amy. He sped up and slammed into the Knuckles robot, knocking it off-balance and giving Shadow a chance to retaliate.

He was a bit miffed that Sonic had helped him, but Shadow knew that he needed that help. He grunted and then delivered a strong attack, completely obliterating the robot's defenses. Annoyed as he was, Shadow knew that he could not have survived this without Sonic's help.

As soon as the three robots had been defeated, a hole opened up in the floor and a voice came over the loudspeaker. It said, "Well, well, well. I didn't expect you all to be back so soon."

Sonic lowered his eyelids, recognizing the voice. He yelled, "What do you want, Egghead?"

Eggman's voice took on a bit more sinister air. He said, "Oh, Sonic, that's for me to know and you to find out through trial, trepidation, and pain." He followed that statement up with a dark chuckle. Continuing, he said, "I simply want to give you a way out of here. You can continue to fight rooms and rooms of my robots, or you can come and fight me now."

Sonic determinedly said, "I don't trust you. Why would you give me a chance to come and fight you again?"

"Because, little hedgehog, I have something you want, and I like seeing you suffer."

Amy spoke up this time, asking, "What are you talking about?"

"Did you really think that you could leave your other friends alone out there? The little fox and the echidna are waiting for you down here; if you don't hurry, it may be too late for them. Decide quickly. My other robots are right outside that door."

Sonic turned to Shadow and asked, "If you had the emerald, could you hold off a swarm of robots, no matter how big?"

Confident as always, Shadow said, "If I couldn't, I wouldn't be the Ultimate Life Form, would I?"

Sonic threw the Chaos Emerald to him and grabbed Amy's hand. He yelled, "You take care of the robots; we'll go and take care of Eggman." With that, he and Amy jumped into the pit, ready to fight Dr. Eggman.


End file.
